October 4, 2024
The Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the Selection of Judges of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) and Courts of Appeals and other Tribunals of Equal Category in Guatemala expresses its deepest concern regarding the Letter of October 2 MP001/2024/36629 sent by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to the President of the Commission for the Nomination of Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, requesting that – within a period of 24 hours – he inform the Prosecutor’s Office whether he received a letter from the Representative of the Office of the OAS General Secretariat in Guatemala requesting a meeting with the senior members of the aforementioned Commission.
The Mission considers that this communication, sent on the same day that the Congress of the Republic was expected to vote for the authorities to form the SCJ, only confirms the attempts of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to influence the process of electing authorities to the justice system of Guatemala.
Additionally, the Mission considers that the communication represents an affront to the work carried out in the country. The Mission wishes to emphasize once again that the Law of Nominating Commissions in its article 9 establishes that unrestricted access to the meetings of the Commission is guaranteed to “the media, international observation missions or any person or organization…”. In this regard, the Mission confirms that the meeting with the deans has been requested, and reports that, as part of the observation work, the Mission has requested meetings with numerous public, private and civil society actors and with the different groups represented in the Nominating Commissions: both magistrates, representatives of the Bar Association and the deans who participate. The activities carried out by the Mission are strictly observational and serve to gather information about the process. The Mission notes that the meeting referred to in the communication from the Public Prosecutor’s Office did not take place and that the letter was not answered.
In turn, the Mission considers it important to emphasize that its work and presence in the country have been carried out at the invitation of the Executive Branch and, as such, a procedural and immunities agreement has been signed. For these reasons, the OAS is not involved in any external interference since the presence as observers is contemplated in the law and has been taken place in response to an official invitation.
For all the above, we condemn the letter sent by the Public Prosecutor’s Office that does nothing more than get involved in a process and try to open an investigation that has no merit whatsoever, based on the pretext of a request for a meeting, and seeks once again to intimidate and criminalize certain actors. The Mission demands respect for the work carried out by this body, as well as the work carried out to date by the Nominating Commissions.
The Mission is concerned that this new attempt by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to interfere will affect the process of electing magistrates, which is now in the hands of Congress.
The Mission reiterates what was already stated in the Preliminary report presented in Guatemala on September 18: the election of magistrates must be carried out without coercion, influence peddling, corruption or criminalization of its participants.
The Mission hopes that this ill-intentioned letter, as well as other actions against commissioners or deputies, will not affect the process of electing authorities to the Courts and that the constitutional deadline establishing that the elected magistrates take office on October 13 will be met.